


It Could Happen to You

by TheMuchTooMerryMaiden



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Community: lewis_challenge, M/M, Pre-Slash, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 11:59:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5625805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMuchTooMerryMaiden/pseuds/TheMuchTooMerryMaiden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hathaway gets a text asking him to pick Lewis up from the airport when he returns from New Zealand...</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Could Happen to You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wendymr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendymr/gifts).



> Can you pick me up from the airport? Flight number’s Virgin Atlantic HR4589, arriving Heathrow at 19.40 on Monday night. Hope I’ve got all the time differences and similar right!
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Robbie.

James looked at the text message for about the tenth time since it arrived all of six minutes ago. It wasn’t just that he’d signed it (never could quite remember that his name would come up anyway), or even that he’d signed it ‘Robbie’, a name he must know that James has never used (too close to some of his fantasies, Robert had been hard enough), it was for all the things that it didn’t say. First of which was contained in the words ‘Can you pick _me_ up from the airport?’  
What about Laura? James wondered, he probably meant us, but James couldn’t help the nagging worry that he meant exactly what he’d texted, in which case, what had happened?

James had had a long time to think, a very long time. He’d spent most of it thinking about Robbie, finally admitting at least to himself exactly how he felt about the man. It had been a relief for all of about fifteen minutes when, just after his father’s death, he’d said the words ‘I love him’ out loud. Then he’d realised a number of things. It did feel better to have said it but it didn’t alter the fact that Robbie was straight and James was whatever the hell he was. It didn’t alter the fact of Laura. It didn’t alter the fact that when confronted with the question of whether he loved Laura, Robbie had gone off to New Zealand to be with her. And James had genuinely wanted him to do that, wanted him to be happy.

So, he thought, _I’m richer in self-understanding, and that’s got to count for something. I guess I’ll have to be satisfied with that. He must have meant ‘pick us up,’_

 

James made absolutely sure that the decks were cleared in plenty of time to leave for the trip south, Lizzie helped, she was almost as excited as he was to see Robbie, she just wasn’t trying to hide it like he was. Not that he seemed to be doing that good of a job of hiding it. When he’d told her that he was going to pick Lewis up she’d grinned,

“About time!” she said, and then she looked closely at James and continued, “You’ll be glad to have him back, eh boss?”

James could feel the slight blush spreading up from his neck and, not for the first time, cursed his pale complexion that had made hiding things like that impossible all through his youth, the only difference these days that he’d learned not to get defensive about it and draw further attention to his reaction,

“I’m always glad to have his northern good sense to counteract my soft southern stupidity,” James replied, knowing these days that she would understand his facetiousness,

“I’ll say,” Lizzie said, grinning, “it’s been hard work doing it all myself, dread to think how you’d have gone on with no one from north of Birmingham at all. All the case notes would have needed a dictionary attached!”

James smiled back and reflected on the fact that it seemed like only weeks ago that he would have taken offence, too much being called a walking dictionary when he was younger, but now he knew better, he could hear the affection in the words. _Robbie taught me that_ , he thought, and felt the familiar stirrings of gratitude and other things that he didn’t want to think about any more closely.

But now, work squared away, it was time for him to set off for the airport. Well actually it wasn’t but it had got to a time when he could claim it was time to set off without seeming like a kid on Christmas morning. He stood up plucking his jacket off the back of his chair by its shoulders and swinging it quickly on,

“You off then, boss?” Lizzie asked, looking up from the report she was typing,

“Yeah,” James replied, “I’ll see you tomorrow,”

“Give him my love and say ‘welcome back’, will you?”

“Of course.”

 

It had occurred to James to dig out the sign again, but in the end he decided that it would be too much, it had only been six months or so, somehow not the same as when he’d seen the two of them off. The fact that he had this uncertainty as to who he was picking up made it doubly impossible; he wasn’t about to make up a sign that said Lewis/Hobson in case Laura wasn’t with him.

James got to the airport ridiculously early, the one time he could really have done with traffic being awful it was open roads all the way, so he ended up in the arrivals lounge hanging around like a spare part with nothing to do but fret over things, mentally berate himself for being a fool and try not to bite his thumbnail down to the quick. 

His thoughts were like a litany, like saying the rosary. _What difference would it make to my life if Robbie has come home without Laura? I wish I could say that ship had sailed, but it’s more that, it was never built. I really am a git, hoping that he’s coming home without her. If he is I bet it’s only to settle up their affairs before he emigrates. What is wrong with me? I don’t want him split up from Laura, it’s not like that would make any difference to me_. And so on round and round and round as the clock inched on and James’ thumbnail got shorter and shorter. Finally, he stood up straighter, forced his hands down to his sides, determined to pull himself together. They would both be back and he’d be glad to see both of them, secure at least in the fact that Robbie was happy with Laura and that had to be a good thing, he owed them and his own self-respect that much.

 

Once he knew that the flight was on the ground James couldn’t help himself but crane his neck to get his first look at them. Of course it was the end of the summer over there. He, no, they, would be getting a year of constant spring and summer out of their trip, neatly stepping over winter in both places. James tried to picture the two of them brown from the summer. Laura would have persuaded him into something more sub fusc than the tropical monstrosity that had nearly brought tears to James’ eyes six months ago (or at least something had brought tears to his eyes and that shirt might as well take the blame). Laura would almost certainly hug him. He’d hug her back and smile at Robbie and before they all knew it things would be back to normal for them all. He’d lived with it all this time, nothing would change.

 

Laura wasn’t with him. James spotted him as soon as he came through the gate but didn’t immediately move, waiting for Laura to come out next. When she wasn’t the next person through the gate James took a step back, still watching, expecting Robbie to pause and wait for her but instead he was looking at the small group of people meeting the flight, _looking for me_ , James thought with a shock, _I wonder what’s happened?_

Robbie spotted him at the same time as he took a step forward to go to him, saw a broad smile replace the slightly harried look on his face, saw him speed up as he pushed the trolley towards him. He gave Robbie an answering grin, not able to help himself, whatever had happened he was glad to see the man.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Robbie said when James was in shouting distance of him, “no matter how long a 26-hour flight sounds, I guarantee you it’s at least twice as long!”

“It’s good to see you again,” James replied trying to look over Robbie’s shoulder, to see if Laura was here. Robbie, knackered though he was picked this up,

“It’s just me,” he said with no emphasis, no emotional content that James could discern, “I didn’t misuse my pronouns.” Which left, James considered, nothing for him to say about the subject.

“OK,” James replied, the word sounding somehow beyond stupid to him, “the car’s not too far away, let’s get back, shall we?”

“Aye, let’s, I want to be back at home.”

Getting out of the building and getting the luggage into the car and getting them out of the car park and back on the road nicely soaked up fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes that James spent wondering as much as anything where he was taking Robbie home to. The house he’d shared with Laura was, well, the house he’d shared with Laura, James certainly didn’t know if it was ‘home’ without Laura. Still at this point in the journey it didn’t matter, they’d have to get into town before he needed to worry about which way to turn. The only real problem was that he couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t ‘Where’s Laura?’ the one thing that he wanted to know. In the end Robbie put him out of his misery,

“Ask, then, you’re dying to know,”

James jumped in, trying to stave off the moment,

“No, really I’m not, you’ll tell me when you want to, when you need to, I just need to know where we’re going.”

“Not sure I know the answer to that m’sel,” Robbie replied, his accent thicker than usual, a sure sign that he was in the grip of some emotion or another, usually anger in James’ experience. He stopped speaking and James fought with himself not to say ‘come back to mine’. 

The car continued to eat up the miles and James continued to not be able to come up with a thing to say that seemed appropriate. In the end it was Robbie who spoke again,

“We never really got back on course after I said I wasn’t going to New Zealand, is what it was,” he began but then he stopped again. James wanted to be encouraging,

“But you did go,” he said,

“Aye,” Robbie agreed, “but later, when it came up in an argument, she said it was clear that she wasn’t my top priority, that I cared about work more, that I cared about,” there was a long pause as Robbie gazed straight ahead at the road and the traffic before he continued, “that I cared about the job more. And the thing of it is that I can’t fault her, there are other things I care about more.”

James felt actually physically sick and didn’t know whether it was nerves, or guilt or just huge sadness for Robbie. _Probably all of the above_ , he thought, _does he mean me, or does he just mean the job? Of course he means the job, don’t be ridiculous_.

Robbie continued,

“Anyway, just before you texted us about your dad, I was really sorry you know, who should turn up in Auckland but Franco. You wouldn’t credit it, would you, all the way on the other side of the world and you walk into someone you know.”

He stopped speaking and James remembered seeing Laura in that restaurant all those years ago. They’d looked like a couple then. He’d been worried about Robbie then too. It had been easier then, he hadn’t questioned his own motives then, not like he was doing now. It had certainly been easier to come up with something to say because right now he couldn’t frame any sort of reply that wasn’t either an inexcusably nosey question or a dig at Laura. In the end Robbie continued to speak,

“So one thing led to another and she’s staying out there, they’re staying out there.”

James was still no closer to knowing what Robbie was feeling about this and after a brief struggle he decided just to ask,

“How do you feel about that?”

There was a long pause,

“At the start of it I was hurt and indignant, but then I realised that’s what it was really, indignation. Can’t form a relationship around indignation.”

James risked a glance across at Robbie and saw what looked like a completely honest rueful smile before Robbie continued,

“I should have known, really. If everything in the garden had been rosy then I wouldn’t have had me doubts about going, would I?”

James remembered his part in that discussion,

“It was probably the wrong question I asked you,”

“Aye it probably was at that,” Robbie agreed, “I do love her but I’m not sure I’ve ever really been in love with her. First off I was still just so curled up round the hurt of losing Val and then when I was ready to move on, after Monkford, then I didn’t know what I wanted. Well I did, but it didn’t seem like that was a possibility. Anyway, I don’t want you to think that I have anything against Laura, there’s no bad feeling, you shouldn’t have any bad feeling. We had a lot of long talks and she convinced me that perhaps I could have what I wanted. The point is she’s happy and I hope I’m going to be happy.”

_Well I did, but it didn’t seem like that was a possibility_ , James pondered those words while he replied with a smile, “It’s probably not me that you need to worry about, I’d be more concerned about Lizzie, she’ll want to ride to your defence.”

Robbie groaned,

“I do hope not, it’s all fine. Or at least I hope it will be.” There was a long pause and a couple of times Robbie took a breath as if he were about to speak but then didn’t. Finally, he turned in his seat ever so slightly and carried on speaking, “I’m going to say what it is I want. If it’s not what you want then I’d like you to just pretend I’ve never said anything. Do you think you’ll be able to do that? I’m going to say it now because, well, neither of us can run away!”

James couldn’t have replied with words, there was no air in the car to speak with, so he just settled for nodding.

“I want you,” was all Robbie said. Simple and direct, just like the man, just what James had wanted to hear. Just what filled him with terror.

James knew he had to speak, to say what he really thought,

“You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear you say that. To the point where I’m worried that you didn’t really say it and I’m just hearing what I want to hear.”

Robbie shifted again in his seat, a palpable relaxation, James couldn’t really believe, even from Robbie, the sheer bravery that must have needed. There were so many things that they would need to sort out and James had to fight not to lay out all his issues then and there, to try and put Robbie off but there would be time enough to work through everything. What mattered here and now was that they’d both said what they wanted, that here and now they were both with the one they loved, everything else was just detail.


End file.
